It’s time to make your marketing dollars work harder for you. It’s estimated 50 percent of all marketing content goes unused. That means for every 10 pieces of content created, five of those pieces could go to waste. This begs the question, why is there a push to create new content when there’s existing content that hasn’t been used to its fullest potential? This doesn’t help achieve your marketing goals. Instead it wastes valuable time, money and resources.
We get it though. Creating new content that’s quality is hard, and maintaining existing content can also be a challenge. But when it’s estimated that potential buyers interact with roughly seven pieces of content on average before making a buying decision, both creating new and maintaining old are incredibly important investments.1
Rather than immediately following the urge to create new content, consider a classic, time-tested slogan: reduce, reuse, recycle. Its roots lie in environmental upbringings, but this concept translates well to the world of content. It encourages us to think about how to effectively leverage content to its fullest and to stop wasting marketing dollars.
Reduce
Let’s start with evaluating all your existing content. Yes, the dreaded and much-feared content audit. It may seem like a big undertaking, but it’s a critical step in the process to ensure each piece of content aligns with your strategy, reaches your target audience and supports your KPIs. It’ll also help you sort through what has untapped potential for future leveraging.
Here are some key questions that will help you assess existing content:
- Is the topic still relevant to the industry?
- Does it still reach your target audience?
- Have relevant guidelines or regulations changed?
- Does it contain outdated numbers or statistics?
- How is this piece of content performing?
Then, determine whether there is value in updating these pieces of content:
- Can you bring it back to life with updated information, facts or statistics?
- Can you reimagine the content in a different style or format?
- Would it be more successful if it was promoted through a different channel?
You may find some content has served its purpose and it’s time to move it into the archives. That’s okay! In fact, that’s encouraged. With the marketing landscape constantly evolving, it’s good to reduce the clutter and retire content that’s no longer relevant.
From here, your surviving content will likely fall into one of the following two categories.
Reuse
Good news, some of your existing content may not need any updating at all.
And that deserves some high fives. High fives all around!
As mentioned previously, creating high-quality content that withstands the test of time is no simple task. So even if no updates need to be made, don’t let that piece accumulate cobwebs.
Examine current and upcoming campaigns and determine if some of your existing content can add value. You can also:
- Write a social post and promote the content on the most effective social channels for your business.
- Write a blog post incorporating and/or linking to your content.
- Include a link to the content in your newsletters or at the bottom of your emails.
- Create a banner on your website promoting that piece of content.
Simply put, evergreen content never goes out of style. All you need to do is find different ways to re-promote it.
Recycle
Let’s face it, some things do change. From what’s considered newsworthy to rules, regulations, guidelines and statistics. These are also some of the reasons content can quickly become irrelevant, outdated or remain in draft mode. But look on the bright side. You can dust off these pieces, pick up where you left off and give them a face-lift without having to start from scratch.
Here are a few ways you can revamp existing content to gain momentum once again:
- Give an article a second chance by updating outdated information and/or statistics.
- Break apart an eBook or white paper into a series of blog posts.
- Package a series of blog posts that cover a like topic into a how-to guide.
- Reference sales materials to create an infographic.
- Write articles and/or social media posts highlighting the results of a white paper.
- Conduct a webinar based on the results and findings of a study.
Take a moment to assess the information that’s right at your fingertips. Content doesn’t always need to be brand new. Sometimes all it needs is a little refreshing.
In the end, if a piece of content goes unused, it doesn’t help your company generate leads or increase revenue. Using these methods, you can move forward with confidence that you’re investing time and resources in the most impactful way.
How have you gotten extra mileage out of your existing content? Share your methods with us at connect@inprela.com. We’d love to hear from you!
1 Frisch, R. (2019). F#ck Content Marketing: Focus on Content Experience to Drive Demand, Revenue & Relationships. City, State: Lioncrest Publishing.
*A book that has captivated our agency and makes its way into the majority of our content-related conversations. If you haven’t read it yet, we highly recommend it!
